DJ Disney Kid
Walt Disney World Vet
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2004
- Messages
- 2,442
Just got back on Saturday evening from a week long stay in the World. As many others have already stated, it rained ALL week long, ALL day long! I was there from May 16th to the 23rd, staying at the Wilderness Lodge, but it seemed more like Typhoon Lagoon. I know many will say that a rainy week in Disney is better than a sunny week at home, and I tell you, your wrong. Its not better, for me anyways. When I go to Florida to get away from Chicago, I want sun and warmth. I didn't get either of those things during my week long stay.
Another problem that arises during all the rain, is that if there is lightning within so many miles of WDW, they close down many of the attractions in the parks. So for example, at MK, Space Mountain, TTA and HOP are already closed for refurb, but now Swiss Family Treehouse, Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, Dumbo, Carpets of Aladdin, Carousel and BTMRR are all closed. So now everyone whos staying in the park is relegated to the only 5 or 6 attractions left, so now your stuck with longer than normal waits for stuff that is usually just a walk-on. And you might be thinking that the parks would be dead in such a storm, but due to the fact that it was raining for how many days prior and the upcoming days are all rain as well, people on their vacations have no choice but to just deal with it and stay in the parks or be prisoners in their hotel rooms. So I didn't notice the parks thinning out at all during the storms and on the contrary, the wait times were increased due to mass ride closures.
What else? Well, over at the WL, the geyser didn't work all week either. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but when your trapped in your room for so much time of day it would atleast be nice to sit on the balcony and watch the geyser. Thats part of the WL's charm, but alas, no geyser.
All in all, the vacation was a bust and the worst I've taken to WDW. but atleast now on future vacations when things aren't going well I can say "Atleast its not as bad as that time in May when it rained all week!"
The Magic Kingdom is in complete disarray right now with those numerous rides under rehab and lots of facades under rehab as well with many tarps up.
Also, over at the AK, we rode Everest on Wednesday and that ride is in shambles as well. No mist, the yeti obviously is still broken and even the shadow effect projected on the wall was not on. You just heard the audio of it but there was no projection. Right before getting on, we were hunkered under an overhang and met a couple who had been waiting 3 hours to get on the ride ( it had been raining and the ride was shut down ) because it was their first time to AK and they wanted to see the star attraction of that park. They eventually gave up and left, and then like 5 minutes later the attraction opened, so Im sure they probably went back to go and ride it and all I could think was what they must have thought since they didn't get to see what the ride is supposed to be like.
The fireworks and parades kept getting delayed all week and we tried watching Spectro, but it was just raining and raining and we couldn't bare getting wet anymore so we just left.
Lastly, on a positive note, I didn't have to see Stitchs show in Tomorrowland and we did ride American Idol and were pleasantly surprised by it. My brother and myself are NOT AI watchers and have never even seen a full episode, but we were there in the rain and it was a building with cover so we decided to jump in line since they were loading people in. We saw the finale show and enjoyed it and would see another show again. The only concern I have is if the judges use the same phrases for each show it would take away the feeling of it being spontaneous. Obviously I've only seen one show so I don't know if the Simon character uses the same lines all day or not, but thats what will make or break this for me. I'd probably see one show per trip in the future.
Toy Story had a long wait as expected, but we didn't mind as much as it was keeping us out of the rain.
Well thats about it, I guess I have an excuse to go back, but its just ashame as I splurged on WL this trip and wasn't able to really enjoy it. Oh one other thing about the WL, for some reason they feel it necessary to now have a DJ out by the main pool playing POP music. Im booking the WL because I want that atmosphere of being in the back woods, so I don't want to be listening to Fergie and Hannah Montana as I walk around the courtyard. I love the WL music that they play but its drowned out by the DJ now.
Oh and WL bus transportation is not good either. The WL shares a bus with the Grand Floridian for every trip except MK. It takes a good hour to get to DTD from WL. You have to go to GF, then to Typhoon Lagoon, then finally to DTD. I remember sharing buses at WL before, but not on every trip. I dont understand why they would make the resort share buses when its so far from the other parks. Its already a far ride, so why make it longer by sharing a bus. It would seem to make more sense that if your close to the park, you would share a bus, if your far from the park its a direct bus. I dono, maybe its just me?!
Well thats all, if anyone has any questions I'll be happy to answer.
Oh and my poncho didn't rip.
Another problem that arises during all the rain, is that if there is lightning within so many miles of WDW, they close down many of the attractions in the parks. So for example, at MK, Space Mountain, TTA and HOP are already closed for refurb, but now Swiss Family Treehouse, Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, Dumbo, Carpets of Aladdin, Carousel and BTMRR are all closed. So now everyone whos staying in the park is relegated to the only 5 or 6 attractions left, so now your stuck with longer than normal waits for stuff that is usually just a walk-on. And you might be thinking that the parks would be dead in such a storm, but due to the fact that it was raining for how many days prior and the upcoming days are all rain as well, people on their vacations have no choice but to just deal with it and stay in the parks or be prisoners in their hotel rooms. So I didn't notice the parks thinning out at all during the storms and on the contrary, the wait times were increased due to mass ride closures.
What else? Well, over at the WL, the geyser didn't work all week either. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but when your trapped in your room for so much time of day it would atleast be nice to sit on the balcony and watch the geyser. Thats part of the WL's charm, but alas, no geyser.
All in all, the vacation was a bust and the worst I've taken to WDW. but atleast now on future vacations when things aren't going well I can say "Atleast its not as bad as that time in May when it rained all week!"
The Magic Kingdom is in complete disarray right now with those numerous rides under rehab and lots of facades under rehab as well with many tarps up.
Also, over at the AK, we rode Everest on Wednesday and that ride is in shambles as well. No mist, the yeti obviously is still broken and even the shadow effect projected on the wall was not on. You just heard the audio of it but there was no projection. Right before getting on, we were hunkered under an overhang and met a couple who had been waiting 3 hours to get on the ride ( it had been raining and the ride was shut down ) because it was their first time to AK and they wanted to see the star attraction of that park. They eventually gave up and left, and then like 5 minutes later the attraction opened, so Im sure they probably went back to go and ride it and all I could think was what they must have thought since they didn't get to see what the ride is supposed to be like.
The fireworks and parades kept getting delayed all week and we tried watching Spectro, but it was just raining and raining and we couldn't bare getting wet anymore so we just left.
Lastly, on a positive note, I didn't have to see Stitchs show in Tomorrowland and we did ride American Idol and were pleasantly surprised by it. My brother and myself are NOT AI watchers and have never even seen a full episode, but we were there in the rain and it was a building with cover so we decided to jump in line since they were loading people in. We saw the finale show and enjoyed it and would see another show again. The only concern I have is if the judges use the same phrases for each show it would take away the feeling of it being spontaneous. Obviously I've only seen one show so I don't know if the Simon character uses the same lines all day or not, but thats what will make or break this for me. I'd probably see one show per trip in the future.
Toy Story had a long wait as expected, but we didn't mind as much as it was keeping us out of the rain.
Well thats about it, I guess I have an excuse to go back, but its just ashame as I splurged on WL this trip and wasn't able to really enjoy it. Oh one other thing about the WL, for some reason they feel it necessary to now have a DJ out by the main pool playing POP music. Im booking the WL because I want that atmosphere of being in the back woods, so I don't want to be listening to Fergie and Hannah Montana as I walk around the courtyard. I love the WL music that they play but its drowned out by the DJ now.
Oh and WL bus transportation is not good either. The WL shares a bus with the Grand Floridian for every trip except MK. It takes a good hour to get to DTD from WL. You have to go to GF, then to Typhoon Lagoon, then finally to DTD. I remember sharing buses at WL before, but not on every trip. I dont understand why they would make the resort share buses when its so far from the other parks. Its already a far ride, so why make it longer by sharing a bus. It would seem to make more sense that if your close to the park, you would share a bus, if your far from the park its a direct bus. I dono, maybe its just me?!
Well thats all, if anyone has any questions I'll be happy to answer.
Oh and my poncho didn't rip.
